Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1887-03-25

itiSS up iS Caltcu, duu LIE
-moods change and those early sensations at first
are no longer operative upon him; another pow
| erful influence causes depression. There are
| many men who have such aneillaTy elements
brought to bear upon their wills and their tenn
| peraments that they are almost persuaded to be
Christians, and think they will be, but, going
| home in hurry, fall in with company,
and the day following business instincts
and interests. 1t is like another scene that day.
| So that there is this changeableness in men.
| Then the decrease of the power came from the
| nature of the mind. There is, however, this idea
not to be negected-the distinction between the
| mans willing and his wishing A great many
| people think that wish is resolution. Oh, it
| has gone into proverb, ''f wishes were horses,
| then beggars might ride man wishes he
were rich but he is too lazy, and he never will be;
| man wishes that he knew more probably never
| will; he is lazy; man wishes that he could have
| entrance into certain circles in society, but the
steps requisite he never will have patience or
wisdom to take. You might just as well carry a
| candle around the field and think it is agricul-
ture, because it is light shining on crops Thous-
| ands of people think they wish to be Christians;
they don't That is the Interpretation given
much of the instruction of Jesus. Men came to
him and said: Lord, we will follow thee whittier
soever thou goest." sNe, you won't; you don't
| know that am destined to suffering, poverty,
| persecution, death; you think that am going to
| be a royal parsonage and shower honors and
| gold" 'Ah,' says one, Il will follow thee, but
suffer first" Ah there is that ''f' and but
| in life. Ten thousand people say, II would be a
Christian it, and that settles it. II want to be
| Christian, but''-yes that settles it again. And
| SO Christ was surrounded by swarms of persons,
| following him around, wishing and wishing, with
| various degrees of excitability in them, and he
| put them all off; he would have nothing to do
| with them. Let him take up his cross and fol-
| low me, whoSoever would be my disciple" There
| is something to do something to prove and to
| wish. There is great distinction between wish
| ing, then. and willing; for when man wills the
| purpose carries with it the instrument to effect
| itself. You wish to be Christian; do you will to
| be one? Your wishing is rehabilitation if will be
| accomplishment.
| Now. Christian life is the only reasonable ones
| whether you regard it duty or as a means of
| the greatest satisfaction that is to say, were
| made to be Christians, and being a Christian is
simply putting yourself in those relations to your
| self, to your fellow men and to your God for
| which you were created Did you undertake
| to take apart watch? That is very easy. Did
you ever undertake to put ittogether again? That
| is not so easy. You don't know which screw goes
| in which hole you don't know exactly which
wheel goes in first; but one thing is perfectly GER
tain and that is that nothing else will fit together
but that of which the watch made, and each
wheel was destined to one place and to one avoca-
ton, and if you can bring them together, accord
| ing to the intent of the maker, it will perform
and otherwise it will not. Now, man was built
with great deal more care than ever watch
was He has definite relations to himself. A man
was made to live with men, and there is only one
way and one principle on which men can live to-
gether--kindness, love. Justice means love;
justice is not something else; and we have test
an example revelation in Jesus, in the Old Tes-
lament as well as in the New, but in the New with
clearer emphasis and larger light, seeing there
how we have got to live toward our fellow men,
oo;,, tbo
predominant spirit in which we are to treat them
Thou shalt love thy neghbor myself" Self
love is made to be the very model and type of
that affection which you are to give to all people
Then we know perfectly well that we are affanced
to yet higher beings than man and to the in
visible cosmos as well as to the visible, and
we cannot live when we are out of joint with
any of these relations in ourselves and to our
neghbors and to our God. Now, 1 say it is reas-
enable that we should endeavor to live after this
type upon which we were created. This is reas-
enable. A great many men can, but, to the weak,
Christianity is nothing but priestcraft, and it is
not reasonable for a man to be damned because
he could not gulp and swallow all the dogmas and
all the forms. But that is wide of the mark
True Christianity means living in those relations
for which we were created-harmonlzation Of
ourselves, harmonization of our relations to our
fellow men, harmonization of our relation to the
invisible future And say that is reasonable; 1
say more than that that it has in it the inherent,
the greatest amount of happiness For although,
for temporary reasons, man may defer to his
passions, taking the average and the whole life,
he loses rather than he is the loser now but Suf
fers then. man may think, because he runs
through a zdisSipated period and then reforms
that the dissipation is all over. No. no, no; the
causes sink under and run subterraneous1y, as it
were and there is many man that has grunbled
at 45 years of age from the misconduct of 20
years. You know that there are the seventeen
year locusts; they lay their eggs, and those eggs
lie ncubating in the ground for seventeen years;
then they hatch and come forth. man may by
evil deeds lay the eggs that will hatch twenty
years after that, and as general truth think it
is demonstrate by actual observation and ex-
perience that the true happiness of man
lies in that self control, in that virtue, in
that integrity, in that love power which
is the substance of religion itself. 1t is not learn
ing your catechism, it is not learning your verses
of faith, it is not going through ecclesiastical
achievements "Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God and thy neighbor as thyself.". Therefore
you must lift yourself. and he that lifts himself
shows, not by partially toward the lower and
worst features in himself, but toward his whole
self-the regent understanding, the moral power
| and element and spiritual in him. Now, when
man has this presented to him and he is urged to
enter upon a Christian life as the only honorable
one, the only that has the greatest satisfac-
ton in it, the only that carries in it the idea
OF QuCy anu STdllCuu6 toward IOu, now ClOuSlC-
lessly men heed that. Tonight how many are
there of you that say in thus looking over the
sphere of lifelife to come: II am resolved what
to do Bearing in mind what resolution means
and what it includes, how many men can say to-
night, Eyes, I am resolved what to do.'' There
are very few of you that would say, 81 am resolved
not to be Christian That is a very hazardous
thing, which very few men care to resolve. Men
may say, on the other hand, II hope some time
to be Christian; feel sometimes as if 1 would
like to be one; wish was one;'' just as lazy
man wishes he had the products of industry. But
how many men are there here tonight that can
say, 81 am resolved what to do" II am resolved
what to do"
Are you then resolved at once to become a
Christian? Can be Christian at once? In one
sense, no; in another sense, yes. Nobody ever
learned trade at q blow, but he can begin this
day; no man ever became scholar by resolution,
but he never can become one without resolution;
it is a complex one and a constantly repeating
one, ancilary resolutions unfolding the main one.
Are you resolved to be a Christian to this extent
I will begin tonight? Il am resolved as far as
have light and as far as know my way. am
determined God knows I am determined to
square my life hereafter on Christian principles.
am resolved to be Christian man. Now, this
may include churches / may be Roman Cath
olic and resolve it, Protestant and stay out Of
that church, and stay out of any other church.
This resolution doesn't mean will be G Christian
like to this scheme or that scheme, according to
this church or that church; it simply means in its
simplest form, its primary condition. Il will reg
ulate my life, both inside and out, according to
the principles laid down for by the Lord Jesus
Christ" Is not that very simple thing? But
what does it carry with it7 1t carries in the first
place, this: Il will therefore begin by excluding
everything that I know will hinder this resolu-
ton; from consciously wicked way, Twill begin
as part of the fulfnlent of this resolution;
will STOP" That is the meaning of the repent-
ance John began and Christ took up Repent, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand; that is to say,
1 will get over every Known wrong that is
inconsistent with this purpose that have
formed; I am going to live as a Christian
man, as Christian woman; and if there
be that which know to;be fundamentally wrong
shall carry out my resolution by repenting or
turning away from that. And then, in the next
place, resolution to be q Christian applies inn
medately; it is not that will be Christian next
year, or by and by, or long time-death, but it is
. going on, beginning at once to live. as far as
know how, righteous: ! De8you mean, then, to
take the steps that are necessary Are Won ready
to begin your atternprto live Christian life by
saying in sincerity, sGad, show me the way; give
me thy help?n Are you willing? Not to say your
prayers; there are great many prayers said; a
great many too few prayers that are felt and not
true. Is there sincerity in you? 1 would to God
that you have spiritual refilling and the sustain
ing power of the whole spirit that you have the